diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
index f591b70da1..6a4407fa44 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
@@ -260,7 +260,10 @@ func (s *APIServer) Run(_ []string) error {
 		HostNetworkSources: []string{},
 	})
 
-	cloud := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	cloud, err := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Fatalf("Cloud provider could not be initialized: %v", err)
+	}
 
 	kubeletClient, err := client.NewKubeletClient(&s.KubeletConfig)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go
index 9c29e062e1..920224e2b9 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go
@@ -186,7 +186,10 @@ func (s *CMServer) Run(_ []string) error {
 	controllerManager := replicationControllerPkg.NewReplicationManager(kubeClient, replicationControllerPkg.BurstReplicas)
 	go controllerManager.Run(s.ConcurrentRCSyncs, util.NeverStop)
 
-	cloud := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	cloud, err := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Fatalf("Cloud provider could not be initialized: %v", err)
+	}
 
 	nodeController := nodecontroller.NewNodeController(cloud, kubeClient, s.RegisterRetryCount,
 		s.PodEvictionTimeout, nodecontroller.NewPodEvictor(util.NewTokenBucketRateLimiter(s.DeletingPodsQps, s.DeletingPodsBurst)),
diff --git a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
index 70399bf402..0f1c4c0fa3 100644
--- a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
@@ -286,7 +286,10 @@ func (s *KubeletServer) Run(_ []string) error {
 		DockerFreeDiskMB: s.LowDiskSpaceThresholdMB,
 		RootFreeDiskMB:   s.LowDiskSpaceThresholdMB,
 	}
-	cloud := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	cloud, err := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	glog.V(2).Infof("Successfully initialized cloud provider: %q from the config file: %q\n", s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
 
 	hostNetworkSources, err := kubelet.GetValidatedSources(strings.Split(s.HostNetworkSources, ","))
diff --git a/contrib/mesos/pkg/controllermanager/controllermanager.go b/contrib/mesos/pkg/controllermanager/controllermanager.go
index 3d0467e70b..33d0e3dda5 100644
--- a/contrib/mesos/pkg/controllermanager/controllermanager.go
+++ b/contrib/mesos/pkg/controllermanager/controllermanager.go
@@ -117,7 +117,10 @@ func (s *CMServer) Run(_ []string) error {
 	if s.CloudProvider != mesos.ProviderName {
 		glog.Fatalf("Only provider %v is supported, you specified %v", mesos.ProviderName, s.CloudProvider)
 	}
-	cloud := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	cloud, err := cloudprovider.InitCloudProvider(s.CloudProvider, s.CloudConfigFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Fatalf("Cloud provider could not be initialized: %v", err)
+	}
 
 	nodeController := nodecontroller.NewNodeController(cloud, kubeClient, s.RegisterRetryCount,
 		s.PodEvictionTimeout, nodecontroller.NewPodEvictor(util.NewTokenBucketRateLimiter(s.DeletingPodsQps, s.DeletingPodsBurst)),
diff --git a/pkg/cloudprovider/plugins.go b/pkg/cloudprovider/plugins.go
index bbcc8dc23e..86e5f8dbd3 100644
--- a/pkg/cloudprovider/plugins.go
+++ b/pkg/cloudprovider/plugins.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package cloudprovider
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
@@ -62,12 +63,12 @@ func GetCloudProvider(name string, config io.Reader) (Interface, error) {
 }
 
 // InitCloudProvider creates an instance of the named cloud provider.
-func InitCloudProvider(name string, configFilePath string) Interface {
+func InitCloudProvider(name string, configFilePath string) (Interface, error) {
 	var cloud Interface
 
 	if name == "" {
 		glog.Info("No cloud provider specified.")
-		return nil
+		return nil, nil
 	}
 
 	var err error
@@ -87,11 +88,11 @@ func InitCloudProvider(name string, configFilePath string) Interface {
 	}
 
 	if err != nil {
-		glog.Fatalf("Couldn't init cloud provider %q: %v", name, err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not init cloud provider %q: %v", name, err)
 	}
 	if cloud == nil {
-		glog.Fatalf("Unknown cloud provider: %s", name)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown cloud provider %q", name)
 	}
 
-	return cloud
+	return cloud, nil
 }